SUGAR'S importance to the prosperity of Greenock prompted the introduction of a newspaper dedicated to the industry.

The first issue of the Greenock Sugar Trade Review appeared on February 3, 1873.

It was launched by Orr, Pollock & Company, proprietors of the Greenock Telegraph.

The publishers said: 'Today we issue the first number of the Review with the belief that its presence will be welcomed in many quarters, because of the requirements of trade, and also because the journal itself will meet, as it is intended to, the wants of those who have hitherto found it impossible to state their opinions on questions of the highest importance to refiners, brokers and merchants.

'The writers in the Review are all gentlemen of standing and practical knowledge, and they write on the different subjects from experience and with a view to the general interests of the sugar trade.'

An article on the front page of the first edition highlighted how the output from local refineries had risen from an average of 11,543 tons in 1842 to 208,870 tons in 1872.

Advising Greenock’s trade had grown to exceed that of London, its writer stated: 'This remarkable result has been attained not only by the exercise of great energy and enterprise, but in the quiet and unobtrusive manner which has ever been distinctive of the Scottish character.

'Our refiners have been content to rest on the merits of their productions, and have steadily and unostentatiously progressed till they have won for our good town the honour of being the greatest sugar refining emporium in the United Kingdom.'

The four-page Greenock Sugar Trade Review, which carried local and world news and opinions about the industry, became a weekly publication in the month following its introduction.

I have seen a copy from March, 1874, but have yet to discover how long the newspaper existed.

PHOTO FLASHBACK

This image is of the first submarine built in Scotland.

The S1 was constructed by Scotts’ of Greenock for the Royal Navy and delivered just before the First World War.

Launched in 1975, the last submarine made by Scotts’ was the Royal Australian Navy’s Oberon-class Otama.